Remember to brush your tongue

By Dr. Nakyonyi Maria Gorretti

Wow you should be asking what about the tongue?

It will really be shocking if one said they didn’t know the tongue.

The tongue is a muscular organ found in the mouth along with the teeth, gums, tonsils, name it and serves important functions namely;

Eating

Swallowing

Speaking

Tasting i.e. bitter, sweet, cold, hot etc.

The tongue forms the floor of the mouth of all mammals where humans belong.

It harbors a lot of bacteria from food remains which produce compounds that play an important role in bad breath.

Unfortunately, most of the times we concentrate on teeth and forget to brush the tongue.

This allows in growth of plenty of foul smelling compounds from the retained food residues.

Each time you brush your teeth never forget to brush the tongue too to clear the dirt that accumulates as it does on our teeth.

You can brush your tongue using a tongue scrapper specifically made for that, or the back of the toothbrush that has also be designed for the same purpose and if all these are unreachable then your toothbrush can serve the purpose.

NB: Never forget to brush the tongue!

Dr Nakyonyi is a dental surgeon and projects secretary Uganda Dental Association